Veins Of Nightfall

The Catacombs Below

The name echoed through the ceiling like a whisper dragged across broken glass.

Nyx.

Every wolf in the dining hall froze.

Nyx felt her blood turn cold instantly.

Her mark burned beneath her skin hard enough to hurt while the voice above them laughed softly.

Not human.

Not wolf.

Something worse.

Kael shifted first.

Dark fur exploded outward while a low growl ripped from his chest as he moved directly in front of Nyx. Lucas cursed under his breath and grabbed silver blades from the wall while Hector's eyes flashed bright amber.

Alpha power rolled through the room instantly.

"Everyone downstairs," Hector ordered sharply.

Nobody moved.

Because the footsteps above them started again.

Slow.

Dragging.

Heavy enough to shake dust from the ceiling.

Azrael stepped beside Nyx silently.

Close enough that she could feel his body heat through the cold air swallowing the room.

The strange pull in her chest tightened again.

Stronger this time.

Nyx ignored it.

Mostly because she had bigger problems currently crawling around her ceiling.

"What was that name?" she whispered.

No one answered immediately.

Lila looked pale for the first time all night.

Eve looked terrified.

Actually terrified.

Nyx noticed instantly.

"You know it."

Eve's eyes snapped toward her.

"Nyx—"

"No." Nyx stepped backward. "You don't get to keep doing that. Stop hiding things from me."

The footsteps stopped.

Directly above them.

Then—

BANG.

Something slammed against the floor overhead hard enough to crack wood.

Lucas lifted one blade slowly.

"Please tell me houses aren't supposed to sound like that."

Another slam.

Closer.

Kael's wolf snarled louder.

Then silence again.

The kind of silence that made every instinct scream.

Selene appeared near the staircase suddenly, silver light flooding the room around her.

"The Hollow knows her true name now."

Nyx's pulse spiked.

"What does that mean?"

Selene's glowing eyes settled on her carefully.

"Names hold power."

Another crash exploded upstairs.

Hector looked toward Kael instantly.

"With me."

Kael nodded once.

Nyx grabbed his arm before he could move.

"You are not leaving me down here with cryptic moon ghosts and demon ceilings."

Kael actually smirked slightly.

Wrong time.

Very wrong time.

But somehow the expression still calmed her.

"You'll survive five minutes."

"That's optimistic."

Before Kael could answer, Azrael spoke quietly beside her.

"I'll stay."

Everyone looked at him.

Including Nyx.

Azrael rarely volunteered for anything.

He usually stayed quiet unless necessary, watching more than speaking. Where Kael felt like fire and Lucas felt like shadows, Azrael felt still.

Too still sometimes.

Like calm water hiding something deep beneath it.

Hector studied him carefully for one long second before nodding once.

"Do not let her out of your sight."

Something unreadable flickered across Azrael's expression.

"Never planned to."

Nyx frowned slightly.

Weird answer.

Kael looked equally unsettled by it.

Interesting.

Then Hector and Kael disappeared upstairs.

The estate immediately felt colder without them.

Lucas remained near the doorway gripping silver blades tightly while Nox flipped rapidly through one of the ancient journals searching for something.

Nyx looked toward Eve again.

"What is Nyra?"

Eve closed her eyes briefly.

"A name."

"No kidding."

"Nyx," Lila warned softly.

"No." Nyx's voice cracked sharper this time. "Everyone keeps talking around me like I'm some problem they're trying to contain instead of a person."

The mark beneath her skin pulsed painfully.

Lucas noticed immediately.

"Uh... that seems bad."

Nyx grabbed the edge of the table hard.

Whispers flooded her head instantly.

Come home.

Wake up.

Nyra.

Azrael moved toward her first.

His hand wrapped carefully around her wrist.

And the whispers stopped.

Instantly.

Both of them froze.

Nyx looked up sharply.

Azrael's silver gray eyes locked onto hers.

Something passed between them again.

That strange pull.

Warmer this time.

Not painful.

Not frightening.

Familiar.

Azrael pulled his hand back immediately like he realized what he was doing too late.

Lucas slowly lowered one blade.

"Oh that's weird."

"Lucas," Lila snapped.

"What? That was objectively weird."

Nyx stared at Azrael.

"What did you just do?"

Azrael's jaw tightened slightly.

"I don't know."

The answer sounded honest.

That somehow bothered her more.

Before she could question him further, footsteps thundered down the staircase.

Kael appeared first covered in blood.

Nyx's heart stopped.

Then she realized none of it was his.

Hector followed behind him dragging something across the floor.

Something dead.

Nyx's stomach twisted instantly.

The creature looked almost human.

Almost.

Its limbs bent wrong. Black veins spread across gray skin while hollow silver eyes stared blankly upward from a face split open down the center.

And carved into its chest—

The same crescent symbol.

Nox stood immediately.

"That's impossible."

Lucas looked sick.

"That thing was upstairs?"

"It came through the walls," Hector answered grimly.

The entire room fell silent.

Nyx could not stop staring at the creature.

Because some part of her recognized it.

Not personally.

Instinctively.

Like her blood knew what it was before her mind did.

Selene looked toward the body sadly.

"The Hollow Walkers return."

Lila's expression hardened instantly.

"No."

Nyx looked toward her sharply.

"You know what that is?"

Eve answered quietly.

"Stories from before the Hollow was sealed."

Lucas frowned.

"I'm starting to hate the phrase 'before the Hollow.'"

Nox moved closer toward the corpse carefully.

"The journals described them as servants."

"Servants of what?" Nyx asked.

Nobody answered.

Then the corpse moved.

Everyone reacted instantly.

Kael shoved Nyx behind him while Hector's claws extended and Lucas raised both silver blades.

The creature's broken head slowly turned.

Its hollow eyes locked directly onto Nyx.

Then it smiled.

Blood spilled from its mouth as it whispered one word.

"Queen."

Nyx stopped breathing.

The mark beneath her skin ignited painfully.

And deep beneath the Hollow—

Something answered.